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Princeton Dinky ridership has dropped since old station was shut down, NJ Transit report says

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The Dinky commuter train pulls away from the old Princeton University Dinky Station in this file photo. As part of a major construction project, a new station is being constructed down the tracks and a temporary station is now in use.
(Michael Mancuso/The Times of Trenton)

PRINCETON — Since the former Dinky rail station was shut down in August and relocated to a temporary site down the line, it has seen a “sharply diminished ridership” of about 100 fewer passengers per weekday than in 2012, according to an NJ Transit report.

The old Dinky station at University Place was shut down last summer as part of Princeton University’s $330 million Arts and Transit Project, and a temporary station 1,200 feet away is currently serving commuters until a permanent station is ready 460 feet east of where the old Dinky station was.

Looking at passenger trends from October through December 2013, the NJ Transit report showed a 10.4 percent decrease in ridership from that time in 2012. Average ridership during that time in 2013 was 1,002, compared to 1,110 the year prior.

“The Dinky declines correspond with the start of free shuttle buses operated by Princeton University between Princeton and Princeton Junction as the result of the temporary relocation of the Princeton station to facilitate construction there,” the report said.

University spokeswoman Kristin Appelget said in an e-mail the university is operating the TigerPaWW as a service to transit riders who might be inconvenienced while the interim station is in place.

According to NJ Transit data she provided, 58,597 passengers rode the Dinky in October 2012, compared with 50,759 in October 2013 when TigerPaWW ridership was 9,541.

The data showed a slight increase in Dinky ridership in November 2013 — 50,064 rides — when shuttle ridership was 8,908, compared with 49,470 people who rode the train in November 2012.

Appelget said she did not have December 2013 data available.

“We thought that (the shuttles) would be a service that would be useful to some people who use the train to travel between Princeton and Princeton Junction, and the strong ridership numbers prove that this is true,” she said.

According to NJ Transit, ridership on its entire Northeast Corridor Line, which includes the Dinky, increased by 10.4 percent, coincidentally the same amount of the decrease in Princeton.

NJ Transit reported the “second quarter was record-setting for the NEC with new quarterly highs in total passenger trips, average weekday passenger trips, average Saturday and average Sunday ridership.”

If the station had not been moved, Dinky ridership would have likely increased, said Jack May, a member of the New Jersey Association of Railroad Passengers.

“The logic here is if there was a 10.4 percent increase overall on the corridor, the Dinky would’ve had 1,200 passengers per weekday had nothing been done. So they really lost a potential 200 riders,” May said. “The project could have been done without the traumatic change in location of the station.”

In the meantime, the neighborhood in the Alexander Road area has seen much construction dust, housing demolition and roadwork that included the installation of a roundabout. Princeton University needed the space along the former Dinky line to build an extension of the school that it says will serve the entire arts community, not just students. Two buildings from the old station will be converted into a café and a restaurant. The entire Arts and Transit project is expected to be completed in fall 2017.

Declining ridership was predicted by the NJ-ARP and Save the Dinky, Inc., a Princeton-based citizens group with more than 400 supporters who have advocated for the retention of the old station.

The move has also provoked several legal actions involving NJ Transit and the residents group, two of which are still wending through the court system.

The National Association of Railroad Passengers and NJ-ARP also have a petition before the Surface Transportation Board of the federal Department of Transportation, asking it to assert federal jurisdiction over the project because NJ Transit agreed to the abandonment without obtaining proper federal approvals, May said.